The Centre Pompidou Málaga is opening the 10th edition of Hors Pistes, a prestigious international festival originally created by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which was established with the aim of exploring the art of the moving image and contemporary photography. Each year, this event transforms the museum space to take the pulse of the world through the eyes of creators who challenge traditional formats. On this occasion, under the title ‘Love in Play’ the festival brings together twelve artists who investigate, question and deconstruct the social contracts, boundaries and rules governing emotional relationships in today’s society.
It is within this conceptual framework that the work of Girona-based artist Núria Güell (Vidreres, 1981), represented by ADN Galeria, is situated. Güell presents her work Paraules d’Amor. An Essay on Passions (2024), an audiovisual piece in video format that explores the complexity of destructive passions. The artist’s work is on display in the ‘Dangerous Games’ gallery, which reminds us that love is never neutral ground. As explained on the museum’s website: “Behind promises of union, devotion or passion may lie relationships of domination, mechanisms of control and ideals that are sometimes destructive. Through forms that combine criticism, poetry and irony, the artists question the cultural narratives that nourish our romantic imagination: songs, romantic myths and figures of sacrifice or possession. Far from offering a disenchanted view of love, this gallery invites us to look squarely at the contradictions of a feeling whose intensity continues to shape our lives.”
True to her artistic practice, in which she uses direct action to intervene in the social, political and economic spheres, Güell subverts the inherited cultural norms surrounding romantic love in this work. To create it, the artist collaborated with a criminologist, a private detective and a psychoanalyst. Through a combination of interview extracts with these professionals and the use of popular songs, the piece confronts the viewer with the consequences of passionate love, challenging the absolute truths and moral conventions that typically surround it.
A graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona and the Higher Institute of Art in Havana, Núria Güell once again demonstrates in Hors Pistes her ability to operate on the fringes of ethics and legality, consolidating her position as one of the most critical and essential voices on the contemporary art scene.
The exhibition and the piece’s opening will take place at the Centre Pompidou Málaga from 1 October to 2 November 2026.
